Movie review: ‘Disobedience’ lacks connections

Al Alexander More Content Now

Wednesday

May 2, 2018 at 2:29 PMMay 2, 2018 at 2:29 PM

At Jewish funerals in the United Kingdom, mourners often wish each other “a long life.” It’s a greeting rooted in the belief that the older you grow, the closer to God you become. We hear it mentioned a lot in “Disobedience,” director Sebastian Lelio’s infiltration of orthodox Jewry in the cloistered Hendon area of London. But as you trudge through the film’s alleged steamy affair between a lapsed Jew and her closeted female lover, “a long life” takes on an entirely new meaning. As in, you need “a long life” to traverse a simple, predictable story stretched to epic length.

For the long-winded Lelio, brevity is not next to godliness. He’s more of a devil in the details kind of guy, filling his nearly two-hour tale of forbidden love with a plethora of stolen glances, disapproving stares and weepy eyes. Dialogue is slight, and largely expository. But then, the tale is so obvious in its intent and direction that words really aren’t necessary. You always know right where you’re headed. I even found myself reciting lines before the exact same words escaped the actors’ mouths.

Lucky for Lelio, those actors are Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams and Alessandro Novelo. As members of a unique love triangle involving a rabbi, his wife and their closest childhood friend, the trio does yeoman’s work in keeping “Disobedience” from being written off as just another moody British romance, not unlike the usual Sunday night fare on PBS. In fact, the movie would feel right at home on “Masterpiece Theater,” albeit with better production values and a director who just picked up a well-deserved Oscar for his last film, the daring transgender drama, “A Fantastic Woman.”

Where that empowering movie was awash in empathy and heart, his follow-up — which he co-wrote with Rebecca Lenkiewicz (the Oscar-winning “Ida”) based on Naomi Alderman’s novel — is surprisingly inert, with characters so thinly drawn it’s as if there’s nothing there. Even the much-talked-about sex scene in which Weisz deposits a drop of spit into McAdam’s eagerly agape mouth like a bird feeding her young is more gross than sensual. And did we really need to catch the two women with their hands down each other’s pants?

Like everything in “Disobedience,” their animalistic love-making drags on for what seems like eternity. We get it already. What we don’t get is any connection to the forbidden love brewing between McAdams’ prim and proper schoolteacher, Esti, and Weisz’ fiercely independent photographer, Ronit — or Ronnie, as her friends call her. One of those pals is Novelo’s Dovid, a burgeoning rabbi who just took over the neighborhood synagogue after the death of his mentor, Rav Krushka (“The Crown’s” Anton Lesser), aka Ronnie’s father.

Or, should I say, ex father, since he long ago disowned her for carrying on with Esti when they were kids. Heck, no one even bothered to tell the New York transplant that her father was sick. It was Esti, though, who summons the randy-and-reckless Ronnie for the old man’s funeral — and nobody’s happy to see her when she shows up during Shiva. Worse, Dad omitted her name from his obit and cut her out of his will. What’s a mourner to do, especially while back in the same room with the love of her life? Oh, did I mention, Esti is now married to Dovid?

What ensues is pure melodrama, as Ronnie puts Esti’s sexual rehabilitation treatments — and her arranged marriage to Dovid — to a stern test. Suddenly, it’s no longer just her weekly passionless sex with her hubby. Now, she’s sneaking down alleyways, ducking behind fences and renting hotel rooms to make out with Ronnie like a horny teenager. The drama, I guess, is rooted in who Esti will eventually choose to share her bed with. But what I found far more interesting was the chance to be embedded inside a religious sect so strict and tradition-heavy even Mike Pence would find it stifling.

Even better, Lelio serves it straight up without judgment. He presents it exactly like it is. And although I was put off by all the sexism and homophobia exhibited by the orthodox faith, I was awed by the devotion to a way of life that refuses to adapt to modern times. It was actually quite moving. But the stupid story insisted on getting in the way.

I kept asking myself, why aren’t I more involved? It can’t be Lelio, because he moved me profoundly with “A Fantastic Woman.” But here, he seems too reserved and unsure of himself. Dare I say, repressed? Missing are his Almadovar-like flights of fancy and color, abandoned in favor of a bleak, colorless drabness that saps all the life. The performances, while excellent, also feel a bit off and withdrawn. For two people who supposedly love each other as much as Esti and Ronnie, why aren’t their trysts more erotic and stirring?

Then there’s Novelo’s Dovid, often pushed to the side even though his feelings and opinions are every bit as essential to the story as those of Ronnie and Esti. Maybe, even more. But I fear I protest too much. It’s not my intention to downplay the brilliance of a movie that is so well rooted in time and place. Or one looking so gorgeously monochromatic.

Yet, “Disobedience” left me wanting more than just predictable plot twists and a cop-out ending. In other words, I wanted it to be more like Todd Haynes’ deeply sensual and utterly heartbreaking “Carol.” This can’t hold a menorah candle to that — even though it tries like the dickens. But as the folks in “Disobedience” wrenchingly learn: The heart can’t always get what it wants.